An employee organizes Apple Inc. AirPods for sale at a Costco Wholesale Corp. store in San Francisco, California.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Costco raises its hourly minimum wage to $ 16, setting its starting salary above many of its competitors such as Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy.
‘Two years ago, we moved our hourly starting salary all over the US to $ 15. Starting next week, the starting salary will be $ 16, ‘Costco CEO Costig Jelinek said during a Senate Budget Committee hearing on Thursday.
The dealer has more than 180,000 employees in the US and 275,000 employees worldwide.
This move comes as Congress debates the $ 15-hour federal minimum wage increase as part of President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 billion Covid-19 relief bill.
Target and Amazon both pay hourly workers a minimum of $ 15 per hour. Walmart’s minimum wage starts at $ 11 per hour, but recently announced increases for 425,000 employees that will increase the average dealer’s wage to above $ 15 per hour. Walmart is the country’s largest employer.
In early March last year, the chain introduced a $ 2-hour premium for its employees to alleviate the financial stress caused by the pandemic for many people.
“When we approach the one-year point of this extra salary, we will limit the temporary premium, but convert part of the premium to a permanent increase by increasing each step on an hourly wage scale,” Jelinek said.
Costco employees in the U.S. have been with the company for an average of more than nine years, with more than 60% of employees serving five years or more.
Costco has 803 locations worldwide, including 558 in 45 U.S. states, Washington and Puerto Rico.
The company was not immediately available to comment further on its decision.
Correction: The trial took place on Thursday. An earlier version of this story set the date incorrectly.